Divider & Line Break Blocks
Block by block, you create a page. This process gives you lots of flexibility.
But when you hit the "Build It!" button, SiteBuilder's programming jams all the blocks together, without any spaces between them. It does, however, keep the carriage returns within each Text Block.
Dividers are useful for giving your page some structure. They break up a longer page into chunks, making it easier for your visitor to digest the information.
Spiders ignore dividers. So their main purpose is to help organize the text on your page. Use dividers to separate thought changes.
As you build your page...
- active words should form short sentences
- two or three sentences should build a short paragraph, and...
- then you should organize groups of paragraphs by Divider Blocks for maximum readability.
- Width: Choose the % width of the page you want the divider to span.
- Height: Choose how thick you want the divider.
- Alignment: Select how you want the divider aligned on the page.
Tips
- Add a Headline block (size #3) after a Divider Block if the page is especially long. It will introduce the major thought shift, and pull the reader ever more deeply into your page.
- To make your divider stretch across the entire Web page, choose 100% width. Scale down from there.
Optional Tip
The Divider line that is created is rather plain. If you prefer to have a line with more character, create one using a graphics program or download one from one of the many graphic clipart sites on the Web.
Upload that line graphic into your Graphic Library. Then use the Graphic Block rather than this one to break up your page.
Line Break Block
- How Many?: Select how many line breaks to insert.
- Clear All?: Choose "No," if you want to keep the formatting from the block above the Line Break. Choose "Yes," if you want the following block to have different alignment.
There is no need to use Line Break Blocks to create paragraphs. For that, you enter two carriage returns ("Enter" key on your keyboard, "Return" key if you're on Mac) within a Text Block. SiteBuilder recognizes this as a paragraph.
Sometimes, though, you just need a bit of "vertical breathing space" between the block contents without a visual break. For example, you may want a line or two after a Text Block before a Graphic Block.
To do this, you can use Line Break Blocks to create the "carriage returns" between blocks.
So if you have two Text Blocks like this...
Now, if you add a Line Break Block...
Tips
- Enter 1 to 5 line breaks at a time, creating as much vertical spacing as you need.
- To start the next block "on the very next line," just call for one line break in the Line Break Block. If, for some reason, you want a big gap between blocks, call for more.
- Note: If you want to enter a single carriage return in a Text Block, it's faster to just enter the HTML line break tag "<br>" where you want the carriage return to break the line.
- The "Clear All" option is relevant when you have just placed a graphic before this line break. Choose "No" if you want to wrap text around this graphic. Choose "Yes" if you want the following text to start below the graphic.